It’s a rainy erev in Tennessee, though not freezing.  Misu’s porch water has ice cubes floating in it.

My youngest grandson turned four years old today in Florida.  My son is on the other side of the world for a couple of weeks, feeling a bit lost and adrift himself.  We’re keeping his place warm for him.

The world is unraveling all around us.  But we are still here, holding down the fort on our island of sorts, keeping the lights on.

Misu is at her guard post.  And there are still flowers.

It’s beginning to look a lot like…that time of year.  We don’t discriminate when it comes to shiny sparkly stuff–it’s all equal.  I’m part Corvid, after all.  (That’s a blue Chanukah Bush, of course.)

So, weather trivia.  Weather is a nice, safe subject, right?  Except when it’s somehow “political”!

For example, I believe we just beat the record low for this date in Knoxville, 24°, because it dipped to 23° early this morning.  The average low for this date is 44°.   Similarly, the average high is 67°, whereas our high today will be about 45°, more like the average low.

Being Tennessee, of course it will fluctuate back up into the 50s or even 60s over the weekend.  But the fluctuations seem more extreme lately, and not just here, as we all have witnessed.

(By the way, in Sydney, Australia right now it’s in the 60s, headed for ~70°.  Just for the sake of conversation.)

Pretty innocuous stuff, normally, but we are not in normal times, and even the weather reflects the irreversible damage humans are inflicting upon our planet.  We each have our pet world issue, and one of mine is the environment.  Habitable planets are not disposable or recyclable.

But back down to earth.  Normally, right after Misu the Cat eats breakfast, she’s out the door to hunt.  This morning it was so cold, she didn’t even stop to check it out.  She fled to the warmest, coziest corner of the house and hunkered back down.  That was a first.  She’s smarter than some humans.  She recognizes facts when she sees them.

It’s too cold to even go outside for photos (yes I’m an old wuss) so here’s one through a window screen.  My excuse is I worked outdoors for decades, cut me some slack!  The water on the porch never even thawed today.

In Sydney, Australia, it’s 60°, heading up to 68°.

And now back to hibernating.

It’s just after midnight and the start of Thursday in Sydney, Australia, where my son is working for two weeks.  That is, it’s already tomorrow, 16 hours into our future.  I’m sure that’s not the only way Aussies are ahead of us.  Here’s another fun fact–while it’s 21° here (brr) and heading for a whopping 38° high, it’s in the 60s in Sydney.  I think it’s their spring to summer transition, the opposite of here.  He’ll probably never want to come home!  I wouldn’t blame him.  The big question is: does kangaroo taste like chicken, and does it make good BBQ?

Have I gone Southern and soft?  OMG it’s cold out there!  I’m aware that the whole north and midwest are iced and snowed-in, so how is it 33°-headed-down-to-21° feels so-o-o cold?

How do some humans not hibernate, like smart animals?  Or actually choose to stay in frigid locations?  It’s mystifying.

My son cleverly timed his Aussie trip for now, and is probably gloating at us from, hmm…68° and flash flooding!  Not quite the inferno I had assumed.

Still, you can’t keep signs of life down–here are some brave resisters.  And here is one astute animal shrewdly going dormant.

I’m sure I’m not the first to think of it, but consider: if Repubs are so OK with Mars landing science, but not OK with Earth climate science, why don’t they all just move to the Red planet, and leave us alone to salvage our Blue/Green planet from the damage they’ve caused.  It’s not political, it’s just logical.  You can’t pick and choose your science.  And since they’re so anti-immigrant, which is what all of their ancestors were, they can have their own white racist gulag on Mars.  No walls required.  It’s a win-win.

It was bound to happen…I actually glimpsed some snow on this cold, windy day.  Still, it’s not like the Midwest blizzard that’s happening.  Or the freeze in the northeast.  It’s just more fall-like, for a change of pace.

Misu the cat is no dope– she knows where it’s at.  By the way, not that you asked, “Misu” is supposedly a Miwok native American word for rippling brook, ripples in water, etc.  The tribe was a N. California hunter/gatherer/fisher tribe. “Misu” is also colloquial in various languages for pussycat, or a cute goddess, and the Japanese “mizu” is one word for water.  (Also misu is a healthy Korean multi-grain drink.)  So it seemed appropriate, what with her running water fascination.

My son really has the right idea–he’s embarking on a flight to Australia right now, on business.  We’ll miss him for two weeks, but it’s a well-earned getaway for him.

We ourselves are observing TG Part 2, roasting a small turkey and fixings, just because.  It’s a good excuse to warm up the place.

It was about 60° and springlike on this late November day, so it must be Tennessee.  Kitty, whom I’ve dubbed “Misu” for now, was somewhere out stalking, so it was safe for black kitty, whom I call “Joey”, to hang out undisturbed.  Here he is looking fabulously decadent amid all the colors.

Here’s the sane way to avoid the feeding frenzy: stay home!  Let Kitty demonstrate: as sirens blare nonstop in the distance, here she is calmly grazing on grass, overseeing the changing colors, drinking from her favorite fountain, and waiting for more food to magically appear, as it inevitably does.